The Ocean Race: Thrilling inshore finale sees teams from Germany and Portugal confirmed overall winners in Genova.

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June 23, 2021

The Ocean Race: Thrilling inshore finale sees teams from Germany and Portugal confirmed overall winners in Genova.

The Ocean Race, Genoa

Genova, Italy, June 23, 2021 — Class leaders Offshore Team Germany (GERMANY) and Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team (PORTUGAL) are the respective IMOCA and VO65 winners in the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe, after an exciting final day of coastal racing in Genova, Italy on June 19.

The atmosphere on the pontoons was ripe with anticipation and nervous energy the June 19 morning as the 12 competing crews from around the world departed the dock for the final time on the new three-week-long multi-stage professional yacht racing event.

The points spread close at the top of the seven-boat VO65 and five-boat IMOCA 60 fleets, and with bonus points up for grabs for the top three finishers in each class in the planned 90-minute sprint race around the Gulf of Genova, the final standings remained open.

Windless conditions at the scheduled start time of 1200 CEST / 1000 UTC forced the race committee to postpone until a new breeze arrived, and racing finally got underway at around 1340 local time. Racing took place in 7 to 10 knots of southeasterly sea breeze.

The VO65 start was a congested all-action affair, with two boats - Sailing Team Poland (POL) and The Austrian Ocean Race Project (AUT) - having to tack around after being forced outside the committee boat end of the start line. Three others - AkzoNobel Ocean Racing (NED), Ambersail-2 (LTU), and Team Childhood I (NED) - having to restart after being called over early by the race committee.

But staying clear of the melee going on all around them was the overall VO65 class leaders Mirpuri Ocean Racing Team - led by Yoann Richomme - who sailed off the line unfettered and into a clear lead.

Despite some nervous moments on the final run to the finish, they made an uncharacteristic sail handling error while hoisting the A4 spinnaker and came under attack from Bouwe Bekking’s Sailing Poland. Ultimately, the Portuguese team held on to their early advantage to take the coastal race win and seal overall victory in The Ocean Race Europe.

Sailing Team Poland’s second-place inshore race finish was enough to elevate them to second overall, tied on points with the now third-placed Dutch entry AkzoNobel Ocean Racing, led by Australian Chris Nicholson.

Meanwhile, the battle for the overall top spot in the IMOCA class was a near photo finish for second place in the coastal race between Robert Stanjek’s Offshore Team Germany and Thomas Ruyant’s LinkedOut.

Offshore Team Germany had led around the first two legs of the triangle-shaped racecourse. Still, it dropped to second early on the final downwind leg behind the American-entry 11th Hour Racing Team after a poorly executed tack rounding the second mark of the course.

The spectators on the water and watching the worldwide live video feed held their breath as the two yachts overlapped at the finish line. The German boat was under threat from the rapidly advancing LinkedOut - a team they would have to beat to avoid being relegated to third overall. However, Offshore Team Germany held on to win the race and the overall series by the smallest margin.

“I’m super-happy. I’ve prepared this team for four or five years, and I’m so happy we managed to do so well,” Stanjek said dockside after racing.

“My idea to build a successful team for The Ocean Race was to combine Olympic sailors with experienced offshore sailors, and this is what we executed, and it proved to be successful. We’re getting stronger every day. There are no egos on board, everyone is listening, and it’s a good learning atmosphere. I’m very proud of the team.

“We learned heaps about the boat, about the race profile, how to manage the watch system onboard, communications; it’s much more than just getting the win. So we are taking a lot of lessons home with us.”

Today’s win for the 11th Hour Racing Team moved them up to second place overall in the IMOCA class, one point ahead of the French crew on LinkedOut, who dropped to third altogether.

“We showed a lot of fight today, and that shows a lot about this group,” said skipper Charlie Enright. “I’m proud of what we did.”

For the Portuguese Mirpuri Foundation Racing Team, the VO65 class victory resulted from a composed and consistent performance that saw the team collect maximum points on offshore legs two and three and their homeport inshore race in Cascais.

Richomme’s crew had put in several weeks of Atlantic training before The Ocean Race Europe start from Lorient, France, on Saturday, May 29. As the only team in the VO65 fleet to invest in a new sail wardrobe, they began the race as favorites - they comfortably lived up to it.

“Job done. Mission accomplished,” said Richomme from onboard immediately after the finish. “I think we like to make things hard for ourselves. We lost the kite on the first hoist, and I thought we would get passed by two boats. But we managed to get it back up in the air again.

“From the start, we were leading - it was a tough one because all the boats around us were over the line, so it was pretty tense.

“We could not have finished on a better note - winning this last coastal race here in Genoa. It was the best way to make sure we would win the event overall, so we are thrilled.

“It’s been a considerable effort to get to here… The hard work and the training, and everything we did in Cascais for months paid off. The whole crew has been fantastic. There’s a lot of talent in that crew, and I think we managed to use it as best as possible.

“I think The Ocean Race Europe is a great concept. I think it should be a month-long, around Europe, very intense Â- this is the best format we can have for racing. I think having a race that links countries in Europe makes so much sense.”

Following racing, there was an official prize-giving ceremony in the evening at the event village in Genova. The winning teams in the IMOCA and VO65 class were presented with a trophy to celebrate their achievements in the inaugural edition of The Ocean Race Europe.

• The Ocean Race Europe - Final Leaderboards

IMOCA